Thanks to our friend, an experienced Mykonos traveller, we know to bypass the beaches called “Paradise” and “Super Paradise” with their thumping music and party scene, to get to our favourite, Agrari Beach. It’s pretty empty at this time of year, no music is blasting, it’s clothing optional, and there is a great cafeteria style restaurant with great grilled food and other Greek delicacies. My limited colour palette is really off, by the way. The water is a deep turquoise and azure blue, but I don’t have those colors, and my attempts at mixing them have been unsuccessful so far. I’ll happily keep trying.
L. was worried that Mykonos would not be the same as it was on his long ago visits in the late 80s/early 90s, that he would be disappointed, that his happy memories of it would be overwritten like old data. None of this has been the case. In fact, I have never seen my lovable but curmudgeonly friend happier. This makes the rest of us happy, plus he knows how things work here: where the best beaches are, how to get to them, which restaurants have the freshest grilled seafood, and how to speak a bit of Greek — at least he can wing it, since he studied Ancient Greek. So it’s an easy trip for us thanks to our friend playing tour guide.
It’s worth describing how the beaches work on Mykonos. Many beaches are served by a small boat, called a caïque, which holds about 12 people and quickly putters up onto each sandy beach with its front where an attached ladder allows quick off-on access. The caïque comes around about once an hour, and you can hop on or off at any beach you like for €3.50. The ride to or from “our beach” takes about 45 minutes. You sit anywhere on deck in the sun and enjoy a blissful sail on the Aegean Sea. On the way back, we sail towards the early evening sun. I have some of my happiest and most peaceful moments when I am on a boat, looking out at the sea, whether that’s in the Greek Islands or the Gulf Islands.
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